Cited by 171Photorefractive and Nonlinear OpticsPhotonic and Optical DevicesFerroelectric and Piezoelectric Materials

High Density Lithium Niobate Photonic Integrated Circuits

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Li, Zihan, Wang, Rui Ning, Lihachev, Grigory, Zhang, Junyin, Tan, Zelin, Churaev, Mikhail, Kuznetsov, Nikolai, Siddharth, Anat +3 more·2023·Nature Communications

Published version of a preprint

Abstract

Abstract Photonic integrated circuits are indispensable for data transmission within modern datacenters and pervade into multiple application spheres traditionally limited for bulk optics, such as LiDAR and biosensing1. New applications and higher performance are enabled by the diversification of optical waveguide materials past silicon-on-insulator. Of particular interest are ferroelectrics such as Lithium Niobate, which exhibit a large electro-optical Pockels effect enabling ultrafast and efficient modulation, but are difficult to process via dry etching2. For this reason, etching tightly confining waveguides - routinely achieved in silicon or silicon nitride - has not been possible. Diamond-like carbon (DLC) was discovered in the 1950s 3 and is a material that exhibits an amorphous phase, excellent hardness, and the ability to be deposited in nano-metric thin films. Its use today is pervasive, ranging from applications for hard disk surfaces 4 and medical devices 5 to low friction coatings for automotive components 6. It has excellent thermal, mechanical, and electrical properties, making it an ideal protective coating. Here we demonstrate that DLC is also a superior material for the manufacturing of next-generation photonic integrated circuits based on ferroelectrics, specifically Lithium Niobate on insulator (LNOI). Using DLC as a hard mask, we demonstrate the fabrication of deeply etched, tightly confining, low loss photonic integrated circuits with losses as low as 4 dB/m and Q-factor as high as 10 · 106. In contrast to widely employed ridge waveguides 7,8, this approach benefits from a more than 1 order of magnitude higher area integration density while maintaining efficient electro-optical modulation, low loss, and offering a route for efficient optical fiber interfaces. As a proof of concept, we demonstrate a frequency agile hybrid integrated III-V Lithium Niobate based laser with sub-kHz linewidth and tuning rate of 0.7 Peta-Hertz per second with excellent linearity and CMOS-compatible driving voltage. Our approach can herald a new generation of high density ferroelectric photonic integrated circuits, in particular for applications in coherent laser based ranging 9 and beamforming 10, optical communications 7, and classical 11 and quantum computing networks 12.

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  • Li et al. fabricated the first PIC platform on LNOI through direct etching using diamond-like carbon (DLC) masks.

    “recently, Li et al. [192] fabricated the first PIC platform on LNOI through direct etching using diamond-like carbon (DLC) masks”

    From Metal Oxide Thin Films for Advanced Photonic Applications (2026) · cites this paper as [192]

    The Discussion describes the authors’ high-density lithium-niobate-on-insulator PIC platform, and the Results’ fabrication-process section describes direct etching with a DLC hard mask. The paper does not establish that this was the first PIC platform on LNOI; its Introduction discusses earlier lithium-niobate integrated-photonics approaches. (LLM, conf=0.88)

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Research works printed but not linked: 2

  1. [43]Wang C Integrated lithium niobate electro-optic modulators operating at CMOS-compatible voltages Nature 2018 562 101 104 10.1038/s41586-018-0551-y 30250251 · DOI · Paper page
  2. [44]He M High-performance hybrid silicon and lithium niobate mach–zehnder modulators for 100 Gbit s−1 and beyond Nat. Photonics 2019 13 359 364 10.1038/s41566-019-0378-6 · DOI · Paper page

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Authors
Li, Z., Wang, R. N., Lihachev, G., Zhang, J., Tan, Z., Churaev, M., Kuznetsov, N., Siddharth, A., Bereyhi, M. J., Riemensberger, J., & Kippenberg, T. J.
Affiliations
École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (CH)
Corresponding author
Kippenberg, Tobias J.
Venue
Nature Communications
Published
2023-08-10
Volume
14
Issue
1
Pages
4856-4856
ISSN
2041-1723 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W4385727101
Cited by
169
References
50
Citations by year
2026: 35 · 2025: 80 · 2024: 51 · 2023: 3
FWCI
19.62
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Nature Communications (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • Research Square (acceptedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Infoscience (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
Funders
  • National Science Foundation
  • European Commission (HORIZON2020, 835329, 812818)
  • École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
  • Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung (201923, 186364)
  • Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (HR0011-20-2-0046)
  • Advanced Research Projects Agency
  • Horizon 2020 Framework Programme (812818, EU‐H2020)
  • HORIZON EUROPE Framework Programme
  • HORIZON EUROPE European Innovation Council (101113260)
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics › Photorefractive and Nonlinear Optics
  • Physical Sciences › Engineering › Electrical and Electronic Engineering › Photonic and Optical Devices
  • Physical Sciences › Materials Science › Materials Chemistry › Ferroelectric and Piezoelectric Materials
Keywords
lithium niobate, photonic integrated circuits, deep etching, low-loss waveguides, electro-optic modulation, Mach-Zehnder modulator, half-wave voltage, CMOS-compatible photonics, optical fiber interface, integration density

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